Love Is Where The Heart Is
by jysellahorn22
Summary: Is is about Tank's Past, and his future with Stephanie. It has Ranger as a good guy and Morelli in the end of it as a bad guy
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

" **Here we go again, another Sunday dinner" Stephanie Plum thought to herself as she was driving a beat up 1997 Red Jeep. She got to her parents' house. She parked her car and went inside, when she got in, Grandma Mazur was sitting at the table, and Steph noticed that there was another sitting place at the table.**

" **What is going on now" Steph said out loud.**

" **We are having a guest for dinner and he better be cute Helen" Grandma Mazur told her while she was waving a finger at her daughter.**

" **Mom it better not be Morelli, we are not getting along right now." Stephanie yelled loud enough for her mom to hear.**

" **It is not Morelli, and I know, because it is all over the Burg on how you threw a pie in his face." Helen said while she was coming out of the kitchen with the roast.**

 **Frank came in and sat at the head of the table, while Helen sat to the right and next to her was Grandma Mazur.**

" **You, Steph sit to the left of your father." Helen sternly told her daughter. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, Helen went to get it.**

" **Glad you could make it, come in there have a seat next to Stephanie." Helen told him.**

 **Stephanie turned her head to hallway and saw Tank coming toward the dining room in a blue tailored suit with a white shirt.**

" **Tank what are you doing here?" Stephanie questioned him**

" **I was invited to dinner." He smiled with all his straight white teeth.**

" **Mom what are you doing?" Stephanie asked her mother.**

 **Helen sat down next to her father at the head of the table and noticed that he had already started eating a few slices of the roast.**

" **You have a very nice house her Mrs. Plum" Pierre said and smiled at her, while he was sitting down next to Stephanie.**

" **Thank you, and I am sure you know that Stephanie grew up in this house." Helen pointed out to him.**

" **Now Tank please tell me that is not your real name?" Frank jumped in the conversation.**

 **Stephanie turned to look at her father and told him "Dad no, his real name is Pierre."**

 **While they were sitting down at dinner, Grandma notice that both Stephanie and Pierre kept looking back at each other.**

" **So, Pierre tell me a little about yourself." Frank asked him.**

" **Well where should I start, I moved here about seven years ago from California where I was a detective with the LA police, but nobody but Ranger knows that. I was also married once before in LA, but she died in a car crash, so after that I moved here. That is about it, no kids, but I would like to someday." he smiled again at Stephanie.**

" **Pierre does Ranger know that you are a detective?" Stephanie asked him.**

" **Yes, he does, he does but he does not know that I was married before though and I would prefer him not to know." Pierre told Stephanie then smiled again.**

 **They chatted a some more, while they were eating, then Helen told them, "I am going to get dessert I will return."  
**

" **I will help Helen" Grandma Mazur followed her daughter into the kitchen where she told Helen, "You did good, I think they like each other and I will find out once I go back into the dining room" Mazur told her daughter.**

" **mom don't do that" but it was too late Grandma Mazur was all ready heading back to the dining room.**

 **Helen heard her mother yelling, "I will say again you did good Helen it looks like we have a new couple and I might have a new grandson in law"**

" **Grandma" Stephanie yelled then she heard Pierre reply, "Not yet Grandma, but maybe some time soon."**

 **Stephanie looked at Pierre with an open mouth. "Okay" was all she could get out.**

 **After dessert, all of them chatted some more. Stephanie noticed the time, "Well it has been very nice, but I have to go, Vinny is swamped with work, and I have to be there early. Good night mom and thanks." Stephanie told her softly.**

 **She gave Helen a great big hug.**

" **Thanks for dinner Mrs. Plum I also had a great time." Pierre followed Stephanie out to her Jeep.**

 **Stephanie was just getting into her jeep, when Pierre came to her door.**

" **Little one sounds like your jeep will not start why don't I give you a ride home, it is on my way to my house anyways." Pierre asked her.**

" **Would you that would be great thanks" Stephanie replied to him as she looked softly into his eyes.**

 **She got out of her jeep and locked it up. When they got to Tank's large SUV he opened the passenger side door, helped her in.**

 **They were on the way to Steph's place, "So you were married before, does anyone at Rangeman know about that?"**

" **No, it is part of my past and I really don't talk about it often, I have put it behind me, but she was very special to me. You are to little one."**

 **After a few minutes, Pierre asked, "So what is going on between Morelli, I heard you threw a pie in his face."**

" **Yeah, turns out he has been seeing someone else behind my back and it turns out that is Joyce Barnhart. I found this out when she walked up to our table at Jennie's and started to kiss him, and the next thing he is making out with her in front of me, so when they were done, I threw a pie at him, and it was a chocolate cream pie all over his white shirt." She smiled at Pierre.**

" **Awesome that is great." Pierre was laughing now. They finally pulled up to Steph's apartment. Pierre was already out opening Steph's door for her. He helped her down and they walked up to her apartment.**

 **They got to her apartment, and she opened the door, "Do you want to come in for a few minutes?"**

" **Sure" he followed her in closing the door behind him. Stephanie went to her bedroom door and found a note taped to the door.**

 **On the note were two words, "You're Dead"**

 **Pierre turned around noticed that she was shaking, he looked over her shoulder while she was reading it. So, he turned Stephanie around and held her for a few minutes and whispered "I promise I will not let anything happen to you, you are safe and to prove that, he kissed passionately. She put her arms around his neck, while she stood on her tip toes, and embraced him and the kiss. "Please don't leave, me tonight." She begged him looking into his eyes. "I won't I will be right here on the couch." Pierre told her. He released her she walked into the bedroom and left the door open while he took off his jacket shirt, slacks, shoes, and socks so that he only had on his boxers. He saw a blanket on the couch and he curled up on it the best he could, with the blanket on top of him.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Love Is Where the Heart Is

The next morning, Tank woke up to footsteps in the kitchen. He looked up and saw Ranger standing over him.

"What happened now?" Ranger asked Tank.

"Well let's see, to recap my week I was invited over to Stephanie's parents' house for dinner last night. Her Grandmother wants me to become her grandson in- law. Stephanie was absolutely shocked about how I looked in a suit. At the end of dinner her car would not start so I brought her here. We got inside, and she found this note on her bedroom door." Tank handed Ranger the note, so he could look at it.

He looked at the note, and said "That is it, just You're Dead Stephanie has received worse threats why is she taking this one so hard." He looked at Tank and said, "Go on what happened next."

"So, I held her, we kissed with enough passion to light this whole building on fire. I told her that I would not leave last night and fell asleep on the couch. How was your week." Tank looked at Ranger who was shaking his head.

"Okay so she is still sleeping right now, so I will tell you this. You know that I was on a mission with my troop. Well there is someone new. She is second in command now, because my last second in command got killed. Well I like her a lot. So, if you want to try to get something going with Babe that is fine. I think I am going to try to start a relationship with my second in command. I love Babe, but I don't think I have romantic feelings for her anymore. I think I found someone else."

"Boss are you telling me that if I want to I could date Stephanie, and you would not kill me?" Tank asked Ranger with questions in his eyes.

"Yes, Tank I am. Let's not say anything about this conversation to Babe yet. Let's see how you and she do for a while and if the relationship between you two turns serious I will tell her about my second in command."

Ranger finished just when Stephanie came out of her bedroom.

"Hey there good morning." She saw Ranger standing there in his Rangeman uniform.

"Hey Ranger, how was the mission" She asked as she noticed Tank putting on his pants, shirt and jacket back on.

"It went well, nobody was killed, and we got the bad guys." Ranger said, and Stephanie asked

"Ranger, can we talk in my bedroom for a couple of minutes."

"Sure Babe." He followed her in the bedroom.

Ranger knew that Tank would be watching him, so he left the door open, so Tank would know that Ranger was serious about moving on.

"I know that you have liked me for a long time, but I like Tank a lot. I was always scared to tell you, but after we kissed last night. I wanted you to know that I had feelings for him"

Ranger looked into her blue eyes and saw that she was at peace and told herb "If that is what you want Babe, I do not have a problem with it, I just want to see you happy."

"Now can you tell me why you were so scared of this note?" He asked her.

Stephanie looked at the note and said, "I think it was the way it was wrote, all in caps and the red ink that is on it now out of my bedroom, I have to get dressed and somehow get to work." She kicked him out of the bedroom and shut the door.

"You heard that Tank she wants you, so you better take very good care of her" Ranger told him.

"I will I promise." Tank and Ranger shook hands, Ranger realized that it was done, between him and Stephanie. They released the hand shake two seconds before Stephanie came out in a pair pants, some sneakers, and a tank top. She had her hair in a pony tail.

"All right what am I going to do about my car?" She said out loud.

"I have an idea, why don't you have it towed to Rangeman. I can have a one of my men look at it. Tank you can tag along with you for the day. I am sure that Vinny can use the help from what I hear he is extremely busy these days." Ranger told the both of them.

"Sounds good to me" Tank told him "How about you Stephanie, do you find that acceptable?" Tank asked her.

She looked at Ranger and at Tank and shook her head

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

They both shook their heads in agreement with her.

"Okay but first I have to get out of this suit, so we will go to Rangeman first, then to the bonds office." Tank told Stephanie.

"Okay let's go so I can earn some money." Stephanie, Tank, and Ranger walked out of Steph's apartment and went to Rangeman.

A few minutes later Tank pulled into his parking space at Rangeman parked the truck and they both entered the building.

"Hey Tank wow what happened to you?" Hector asked

"I went to dinner last night at Steph's parents' house, and then crashed on her couch. Now I am going to change and will be will the little one for today." Tank told Hector as they were walking toward the elevator. Tank pushed the up button, and when it got to one, the both got in and he pushed seven. Stephanie moved closer to him in the elevator.

While they were both in the elevator he took her hand brought it up to his mouth and kissed it. The door open and they realized that they were on seven because Lester was there staring at them both.

"hey beautiful, how are you?" Lester asked her.

"I am fine Lester and then she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Tank took her hand and they both walked down to the hall. Tank used his key card and they both entered his apartment. Tank turned around, make yourself at home. He dropped his keys into a container that was on his kitchen counter and went into the bedroom. He turned around and saw Stephanie standing in the kitchen just looking at his apartment.

She noticed that there was a big screen T.V. as well as a computer in the living room. She looked and saw a leather couch with an end table also in the living room.

"Hey if you want you could come in here and check out my bedroom." He was leaning against the doorway, bare chested with his arm folded across his chest.

Stephanie all of a sudden blurted out "you look so good and tasty right now" she found herself walking toward him. "Come here little one, she walked right into his arms. He pulled her chin gently up and kissed her for what seemed a long time. She started to move her hands on his bare muscular back, while he moved his hands up her halter top and pulled it off. Stephanie started to bite his neck. That is when he moved Stephanie toward the king-sized bed. She laid down on his bed and in an instant, he was on top of her, he started to move his tongue down her throat. She was starting to moan.

"Pierre, oh my god." She answered his kisses.

Pierre looked at her. "Oh, how I want to continue this little one, but we have to get back to work." He got off the bed and looked down at her.

"I know that, so we will just have to wait a little while longer before we can do this." Stephanie told him as she got up to grab her top back on.

She closed the bedroom door behind her.

"Wow, when we do finally have sex there will be fireworks" She told herself.

A few minutes later Tank came out in his Rangeman uniform. Standard Black cargo pants, black top with his gear belt. He looked at her and said, "Okay let's go to the bond's office and find out what is going on there." He took her hand and the left his apartment and Rangeman.

About twenty minutes later, Tank, and Steph were in Vinny's bonds office.

"Morning Connie, what do we have today?" Stephanie asked her.

"Morning, another threat on your life." She stated to Steph.

"Yup" you could tell because I have him with me." She hook a thumb at Tank.

"Smart ass" Tank said to Steph they both noticed that Lula was not here, but it was Tank that commented on it

"Hi Connie, where is Lula?"

"She is not in yet, I am worried, because she was not in yesterday and I have not heard from her." Connie told them.

"Hum, if you want we can check on her at her place?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes, please, and while you are down in that area, here is a bond" Connie handed the file to Stephanie.

Stephanie looked at it and said, "wanted for rape and he did not show up to court." She closed the file and handed it to Tank.

"Okay do you know where he is?" Steph asked Connie

"He is somewhere in the same vicinity of Lula's neighborhood, but you might have to do some stake out time to get him."

"Got it we will check on Lula first, then do the stakeout ready to go Tank."

"yes, mam" The two of them left in Tank's work SUV to drive the

fifteen minutes. After they parked, the walked up to Lula's apartment, they noticed that the door was open.

Tank pulled out his gun told Stephanie to wait by the door. He walked into the apartment and saw that the kitchen was trashed. He turned right to the living room and saw Lula on the floor in a pool of blood. He cleared the rest of the apartment, "Stephanie call 911 now Lula is down and badly wounded." Tank yelled.

"Lula can you hear me?" Tank asked her.

"Hey Tank, I don't feel good." Lula told him, then went unconscious. Stephanie walked in while she was on the phone to Rangeman, "We need an ambulance and medics to Lula's apartment now." She yelled

"Rangeman is on the way with an ambulance how bad is she?" Steph walked into the living room and saw Lula on the floor laying in a pool of blood.

"Oh my god, Lula what happened!" Steph started to cry right there and knelt by her friend she took Lula's hand for about five minutes. Tank walked in to the bathroom and grabbed some towels. He put them on Lula's chest to try to stop the bleeding that was happening. He knew that Stephanie was upset, and he could understand that but right now he had to save Lula or Stephanie's world would be shattered. It was then he heard Bobby yell "We are Here."

"She is in the living room she's bad." Tank yelled back

"Bobby came in with paramedics into the living room, "please stand back" one of them told them.

"Come on little one, we need to let them work." Stephanie let go of her friend's hand and followed Tank out of the living room.

"What happened to her Tank?"

"Looks like she was stabbed multiple times" Tank told her while he was at the kitchen sink washing the blood of his hands. After his hands were clean Tank went over to Stephanie and held her for a little while.

"Hey Stephanie, Tank you might want to look at this." Bobby told them leaning through the door way. There in Lula's blood on the T.V were the words

"You are next Stephanie Plum"

"Tank, and Steph both drew in a deep breath, "Come on Steph lets go to the hospital I will notify Connie and Ranger on our way. Bobby will stay here until the police come" He took Steph's hand and they walked out of Lula's apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

okay

Chapter 3: Love Is Where the Heart

Is Tank and Stephanie got to Trenton Memorial, just before the ambulance did. They looked and sat down in the sterile waiting room. Stephanie could smell the bleach and chlorine that was used to sanitize the room. "Pierre, who could have done this to her and why?" Stephanie was still crying. Tank held one of her hands and softly replied, "I don't know why she was stabbed so many times in the chest little one. Maybe it was a warning to you. I say that because of the writing on her T.V. was in blood, and probably was her blood, but we will not know for sure until the labs come back with the results." Tank took her hand and brought it to his lips and softly kissed it. He was holding her, while she was trying to look all over the place to see if Lula had arrived yet. She looked at the ER doors, as they opened, and the paramedic brought Lula in. "White girl come here" Lula softly said "Beware" she went unconscious after that.

Stephanie watched the paramedics bring her into the Emergency Room, she tried to follow them in but was not allowed to go past the E.R. Doors. Tank who was walking behind her put his big strong arms around her waist. "Little one, let the doctors help Lula right now. How about we go call Connie and Ranger." Tank was trying to keep her busy, so she would not worry as much, but he knew it would only work for a little while.

The two of them walked outside. Pierre noticed that there was a chill in the night air. "I will call Ranger, you call Connie." Tank told her. Stephanie nodded she took out her phone and speed dialed the office.

Connie answered on the first ring, "Vinny's Bond"

"Connie it is Steph, we found Lula in her apartment, she has been stabbed multiple times, she was just brought in to the Emergency Room at Trenton Memorial. Do you know if she has any family we can contact?" "Steph, I think we are her only family, but I will try and find out, keep me posted on her condition." Connie hung up. "All right your turn Tank, call Ranger."

Stephanie turned around and went back in to the waiting room while Tank made that call.

Ranger picked up, "Tank what is going on?" "Connie told us to check on Lula, so we did, we found her on her living room floor stabbed multiple times. There was a message for my little one, and it said that she was next." "All right Tank stay with Stephanie if you have to take her to your place away from Rangeman. I think we can both say that it is not safe for Stephanie to go home until this situation is done. I will have Lester and Hector find out some more information about this. Until we know more stay with Steph." Ranger hung up on Tank after he finished talking.

Tank went back inside and found Stephanie talking to Lula's doctor. "Hi there, I am Tank I work with Rangeman Security. What do we know about our friend's condition."

"Well she lost a lot of blood, but we don't have the blood she needs so we are trying to find some AB Negative blood which is rare. If anyone that has this blood type is willing to donate that would be great. Do you know if she has any family anywhere that we can contact, maybe they could help us? If we don't find some AB Negative blood in the next twenty-four hours we might lose her."

"Okay thank you doctor, I will make some calls." Tank told him. He got on the cell phone and called Ranger back.

"Any news?"

"Not good, Lula lost a lot of blood, and she needs a lot more, the only problem is that she is AB Negative, and it is rare. We need to start looking for someone with the same blood type to donate and have it checked, and it needs to be done now or twenty-four hours from now or we could lose her." Tank told him.

"Wait I know someone in my family that has Lula's type of blood I will give her a call now." Ranger hung up.

He dialed his Aunt Ruby. "Hi there Carlos, what is going on?" Aunt Ruby asked his favorite nephew. "Auntie, one of my friends was stabbed tonight and she needs some blood. I thought of you because you are the same blood type of her, would you be willing to give her some blood?" He asked her. "Sure, let me guess you are at Trenton Memorial, I will meet you down there." Ruby hung up and thought could it be her, my daughter that I had to give up a long time ago.

She grabbed her purse and left her house. Ranger arrived a few minutes after his aunt did. "Auntie Ruby, thanks so much"

"Carlos you are very welcome, come with me please I have to tell you a story."

"Okay"

While the two of them were waiting to be called. Ruby started to talk to her nephew. "My darling nephew, when I was sixteen I got raped. Three weeks after that I found out I was pregnant. My father told me I could carry the baby to term, but I had to give her or him up. So, I had no choice, I found out that it was a little girl. Child services was so backed up that they could not keep track of your older cousin. So, I never knew what happened to her. I have always wondered of course, so I think your friend Lula might be your cousin, my daughter so I would also like to get a DNA test done." Ruby finished telling her story.

"Okay, I think I can help you with that. The lab that does the blood work is part of Rangeman so when it is donated it is toughly tested. So, I can have the tech compare the DNA sample from Lula's blood to your DNA sample and we can find out for sure".

Ranger had just notice the lab tech

"Hi there, I am Shirley and I am your Tech that will draw your blood. Hello, Ranger, how are you?" She asked. "I am good, Auntie Ruby I would like you to meet Shirley she is on a team I served with in the service. Shirley I would like you to meet my Aunt Ruby Manoso, can you please make sure that when it is tested, that her DNA gets run against Lula Dowel's DNA please." He politely told Shirley the tech.

"Sure, thing anything special we are looking for?" Shirly asked him. "She might be my long-lost cousin" He then kissed his aunt on the cheek. He walked out of the lab to Talk to Tank and Stephanie.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Love Is Where the Heart Is

After talking to his aunt, Ranger walked over to where Tank and Stephanie were. He saw them over talking to the Doctor again, he decided that if he was related to Lula he had to step up and help her any way he could. So, he walked over to the three of them.

"All right, what is going on now?" Ranger asked butting in.

"You can talk to him about Lula he is also family to her." Stephanie told the Doctor.

"All right the blood that was given to Lula was a match and she is receiving the blood transfusion as we speak. I also have the DNA results that you wanted and yes she is related to Ruby Manoso, Lula is her daughter."

"Okay thanks grandpa for not telling me that I had an older cousin." Ranger rolled his eyes, and he noticed that Tank and Stephanie were staring at him.

"Long, Long story I will tell you but not now." Ranger told them.

"We will be moving her into ICU in an hour or two, and if it okay with the family you can stay there with her until she wakes up. But she will recover from this physically, mentally she will need help coping with what has happened to her" The doctor said this and then left to go back to the ER.

"Let's sit down over her so I can catch you both up." Ranger softly told them.

"Carlos, did you here Lula is my daughter" His Aunt Ruby yelled from across the waiting room. She ran to him and she embraced his aunt for a few minutes.

"I heard Auntie, and I would like you to meet Stephanie Plum and Pierre Sherman."

Ruby took a seat next to her nephew.

"I am Ruby Carlo's aunt and Lula is my daughter that my father made me give up when I was sixteen. I lost track of her. But I am so happy to be reunited with her. Will she be okay?"

"Yes, Auntie she will recover, and I will be here when she does." Carlos told his aunt.

Suddenly Tank burst out laughing, Stephanie looked at him and the cracked up too. Ranger looked at them booth, that is when it hit him. He remembered when Tank and Lula were an item.

"Oh Crap" Ranger shouted as he remember that.

"It is kind of funny boss, at least now it is anyway." Tank said out loud.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"I will tell you another time Auntie" Ranger smiled.

"Okay Aunt Ruby and myself will stay here. Tank take Stephanie to your place she will be safer there with you. I will call you when Lula wakes up. I have some things to tell her and I want her to find out from me." Ranger told them in a stern voice.

"You mean like she is your cousin" Stephanie said open mouth. She looked out the window after that not really paying attention to what Ranger was saying.

"Hey Babe" Ranger waved a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry I was spacing out, I am very tired and need to rest." She said sweetly.

Tank was up in a minute, "That is why we are leaving" he held out his hand and she took it.

"Ranger call us once she is awake."

"Tank I am staying, I will not leave her here alone. I know Ranger and Ruby are her family by blood. She is my best friend and I am staying too. You can protect me here, and you will have Ranger here too, so we know who ever this person is will not try something tonight." Stephanie told them in stern voice.

Stephanie sat back down.

"Okay so we all stay here until she is awake." Tank told Ranger and Ruby.

Tank knew he was bet and so did Ranger.

All for of them waited for another half of hour. The doctor came back out and said, "We are going to move her to the ICU now, it looks like she is out of the woods for now. But we will have to keep a close eye on her for the next couple of days." The doctor turned and walked through the doors.

They saw Lula come out on a gurney, "If you want all of you can follow us up to the ICU and, when we have her in her room we will let you know and you can stay with her until she wakes up" The aide told them.

All six of them walked into the elevator and went to the 7th floor where the ICU was. Ranger, Steph, Tank and Ruby went into the waiting room and waited some more while the nurses on that floor were getting her settled in her room.

In Lula's room, the nurse were on each side of the gurney, "On the count of three. One, Two Three. Hold on we need another nurse to help us she weighs to much for us to lift alone."

"I got a better Idea." One of the nurses left and went into the waiting room.

"Can I get you to guys to help us. We need a couple of strong guys to move her." The nurse asked batting her eyes.

"Sure" Tank told her. He gave Steph a soft kiss on the lips. Ranger and Tank got up and went into ICU.

"Is it me Ranger or does Lula look like she put on more weight." Tank asked him.

"Can she get any bigger?" Ranger said out loud.

"Okay let's do this ready on the count of three." Ranger said "One, Two, Three and the two nurses, Tank and Ranger lifted her on the bed.

After Lula was on the bed, Ranger went out to get Stephanie and his aunt.

"Okay there are finishing up with her, come on in" Ranger said and then added, "Auntie, you should be prepared she is a little different."

"That is okay, I have seen it all" Ruby told her favorite nephew.

Ranger just shook his head. When Ruby saw Lula, her mouth dropped.

Lula was in a 2 extra-large gown with an IV in one arm sleeping with her mouth open.

"This is my daughter" Ruby turned back to Ranger.

"yup" was all Ranger could say.

Ruby sat down next to Lula and took one of her hands.

Stephanie took the opposite chair by her bed and took Lula's other hands.

Tank and Ranger leaned against the wall and just looked at the women.

"Wow" was all Tank said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Love Is Where the Heart Is

Tank was the first to wake up, he was still leaning against the wall. He turned and heard his neck crack. "Ouch, I heard that from over here." Stephanie told him. "Yeah, hurt like hell." He replied to her as he was rubbing his neck.

A few minutes later, they all heard Lula groan. "I heard that too." Ranger told them. "So, did I" Ruby said she was still holding Lula's hand. "What happened to me, I feel like I have been run over" Lula softly spoke. "Lula your awake" Stephanie started to cry. "I will get a nurse, Auntie come with me please" Ranger asked her.

When Ranger and Ruby got outside the room, they walked up to the desk, and Ruby said, "My daughter just woke up, can we get someone to take a look at her please?"

"Yes, mam I will page her doctor." The nurse told them.

While Ranger and Ruby were waiting, Ranger told his Aunt, "We should let her talk first see if she remembers anything that we can use to help Stephanie. Then when she is more awake we will tell her that you are her mother and that I am her cousin that last part will definitely cheer her up"

A few min later they heard the elevator open and both Ranger and Ruby turned their heads and saw the doctor come up to them.

"She's awake" The nurse told him.

Ruby Turned her head and asked the doctor "What happens now?"

"Let me explain I will examine her and then we will see if she's up for visitors."

"Doctor my aunt and myself agree not to tell Lula about the DNA results just yet we decided to ask her what happened instead until she is a little more awake. Does that work for you?" Ranger asked him.

"Yes, that is fine, I know you need that information. Let me have a few minutes with her and then we will go from there." The doctor left to go check on Lula.

"Did he really think I would agree to this and how am I going to pay for all of this, I need to get out of here." Lula screamed. She stood up out of bed, and when she did that's when she noticed the IV in her arm. She grabbed it before Steph could stop her. Lula had pulled on the IV so hard she yelled ow.

"What was that?" Ruby said all the way out in the hall.

"That was Lula, come on Auntie I will introduce her to you. I will also tell her that Rangeman will cover all her health expenses." Ranger told his Aunt softly and rolled his eyes.

"Lula you heard what Dr. Bronson said, you have to stay here for a couple of more days." Stephanie snapped at her friend while trying to get her to lay backdown in her bed again.

Just as she said that Ranger, Ruby walked in and saw Lula standing up with blood coming out of her arm. "

Ranger, a little help, Lula just pulled out her IV." Lula was pounding on Tank's chest to let her go.

"Lula, sit down." Ranger commanded.

Lula sat down in the chair that Tank was sitting in with blood dripping out of her arm.

She was staring straight at Ruby. "Wow look at the resemblance." Stephanie said out loud to herself.

"Stephanie go get a nurse to put a new IV in" Ranger said and then after Stephanie left.

Lula said, "I don't remember much, but I came home, and walked into the living room and this guy pops out from behind my curtain. I fought with him for a few minutes and this other guy comes up behind me and put some cloth in front of my face. The next thing I remember is I am here in the hospital and Tank is telling me that I will be okay"

"Okay that is really good Lula, now about your stay in the hospital. Rangeman will cover all your medical needs. Now you can stay here willingly, or I can post men at your door to make you stay." Ranger told her in a stone-cold voice that meant don't argue with me.

"Okay cousin" Lula said to Ranger.

Ranger's mouth dropped. "You knew." He replied. "Yeah, I found out when I first met white girl here. I also know that Ruby is your aunt which I take it this is her." Lula pointed to Ruby and she's "My biological mother. I just did not want to take the mystery of you, I was frightened that you would not believe me. Like I said I will stay, but I Gotta get me some real food not this hospital crap that they bring you." Just then the nurse came in with a new IV line to put in Lula.

"Okay I am going home" Stephanie told Lula and then stormed out. Tank realized Steph was upset about this news and ran out the door to catch up with her. "Hey, wait up I am going with you there is still two people who want to kill you and I need to tell you something" Tank told her as he was running after her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Love Is Where the Heart Is

Tank caught up with Stephanie, "Little one talk to me please"

Stephanie stopped in front of the main entrance of the hospital. "Pierre, she knew this whole time that she was related to Ranger and she did not tell me. I thought we were best friends."

"She was frightened that nobody would believe her, but now we know that she is. I don't think that she is going to take it very well that we are together now as a couple. I think that is going to be our biggest problem is accepting that her and I are done for good." Pierre reminded Stephanie.

"Okay so what is the next step?" she asked.

"First we should go back in there. There are still some things that you both should know, and after you know them it might be easier for her to accept that we are together." Pierre told her.

"Like what?" She asked him with a sparkle in her eyes.

Suddenly, they saw an ambulance drive up to the ER. Stephanie noticed that Eddy came out of another unmarked car.

"Now what!" She stammered over to Eddy.

"Stephanie, I thought I would find you here, we have a problem." Suddenly, the ambulance back doors opened and all three of them saw the paramedics pull out Morelli on a gurney drenched in his own blood.

"What?" she screamed.

"Joe was stabbed more than fifty times and long before Lula was stabbed. There is not much hope that he will make it." Eddy told her.

Pierre put his arms around her to keep her from falling on the cement.

"Little one I am taking you back inside right now, let the doctors work on Joe. Eddy will tell us how he is doing when he knows more." Pierre then turned Stephanie back to the entrance doors of the hospital. Eddy knew that he would be bringing them bad news, but he could only wait until it is official.

Stephanie, Pierre came back to Lula's room, and found her back in bed trying to eat some of that hospital food.

"Hey there Lula, I am sorry I stormed out. But you should have told me, I could have helped you a long time ago. You know talk to him." Stephanie tilled her head to Ranger.

"I am sorry to white girl I should have told you and I don't know why I did not tell you" Lula held out her hand. Stephanie gave it a quick squeeze.

"I was just telling Lula that two and a half years ago we as in you and I Tank became Step- brothers, so that would make it very awkward for you two to get back together." Ranger told both Steph and Tank.

Stephanie looked at Tank "What"

"That was the other thing I was going to tell you outside, but then we had Morelli come in with more stab wounds then we could count." Pierre told Stephanie.

"I need to sit down." She said and sat in the chair that Lula was sitting in earlier.

Ranger looked at Tank "What about Morrelli?"

"We were outside of the hospital talking and an ambulance came up to the ER and pulled Morelli out on a gurney, stabbed to many times to count. It looks like the same way Lula was stabbed right now." Tank told Lula, Ranger and Ruby.

"Lula, I have some news now, I don't know how you feel about this, but Pierre and myself are dating." Stephanie looked at her sick friend who was sitting up in bed trying to eat the disgusting food that she had in front of her.

"I realize white girl that I can't see Pierre romantically anymore, so I am glad that you can see him that way. If it works out, we will all be related." Lula cheerfully told her friend with a smile on her face.

"Okay" Stephanie replied. "That was not reaction I was expecting but it works"

"Sense we are doing confessions, I was a Detective in LA California seven years ago, I moved out here, because my wife died in a car crash." That was all Tank could say because there was a soft knock on Lula's door. The five of them turned to see Eddy and the Chief of Police standing there.

"Miss Plum Mr. Manoso and Detective Sherman, can we talk to you for few minutes." The Chief of Police asked them.

"We will be right back." Ranger told them.

The stepped outside of Lula's room and far away that nobody else could hear.

"Detective Morelli was stabbed in his house at too many times to count about three days ago, we found him this morning. We have tried every to save him, but he died. We know that you all have been here the whole time so you three are not suspects. Miss Plum we are very sorry for your lost we know that you had grown up with Joseph. Detective Sherman, we know that you are retired from the police force. But we are also aware that six months ago you put in an application for the Trenton Police Department. We would like you to offer you the job that Detective Morelli had in Vice. Your first assignment will be to find out who did this to your friend in there as well as Detective Morelli we could also use Rangeman Security help as well Mr. Manoso." The Chief of Police finished.

"You will have everyone from Rangeman available on this case." Mr. Manoso told him.

All of them Looked at Pierre for an answer. "All right I will be down tomorrow morning to start work. Eddy I am truly sorry for the loss of your partner, but we will bring these people to justice. Rangeman has gotten a statement from Lula Manoso and we will give it to I guess myself and Eddy so we can start work tomorrow." Detective Sherman told the Chief of Police.

"Very good, we will see you tomorrow Detective Sherman." The Chief of Police and Eddy left.

Pierre put his arms around Stephanie who was now sitting in a chair crying with all her heart.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Love Is Where the Heart Is

"Little one, Stephanie please talk to me say something" Pierre softly whispered to her. Stephanie was still sitting in the chair wrapped in Tank's arms. "My parents, Grandma Mazur, Valerie the kids, Albert they are all in danger too. We have to notify them" Stephanie pleaded with Pierre.

"Tank you take Stephanie to your place. I will see Babe's parents and other family members to let them know what is happening. I will arrange a safe house for them. To make sure they are safe." Ranger told him.

"Got it boss." Tank said to him. "Come on Stephanie, we need to say good bye to Lula and leave." Pierre told her. He held out his hand and she took it. They held hands all the way back to Lula's room. They arrived as the doctor was leaving.

"Good news I hope" Stephanie asked her best friend, "No they have me set up to see a food nutritionist tomorrow morning, I don't want to go on a diet white girl." Lula moaned.

"Sorry Lula but I don't think you have a choice. Anyway, Pierre and I must get going. But we will call you and visit as much as we can. Ruby please make sure she follows the doctor's orders. Stephanie said softly as she gave Lula quick hug.

They both walked out of Lula's room, and left ICU.

Pierre let out a big huge breath of air as they made their way through the exit of the hospital. Pierre walked up to Stephanie and put his arm around her waist pulled her toward him. He lifted her chin, pressed his lips on hers. She let the kiss engulf her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Pierre, please we have spent a day and a half here, can we go somewhere more private." She asked softly.

"Ok, let's go." Pierre took her hand and they left to go to his place.

While Pierre was driving Stephanie to his place. Lester received a call from Ranger. Telling him to get the rest of the Plums to a safe house now.

Helen saw a Rangeman SUV pull up. "I know you, your name is Lester" she said, "Is Stephanie all right we heard about Joseph." "Yes, she is fine, but you, your husband, and Grandma Mazur have to come with me for a while. There might be a threat on your life. We also need to get in touch with Valarie too."

"They are here, Albert is out of town. I will pack a bag for me and Frank. Can we have someone go to Valarie's house to pick up some stuff for them." Helen asked nicely.

"Of course," Lester answered her. After about fifteen minutes they were all loaded up in the Rangeman SUV.

"Boss I got them, someone will have to pick up some clothes for Valarie and the kids, but we are going to the safehouse now" Lester told Ranger. "Good I will let Tank know" Ranger told him. Ranger then pressed the button for Tank.

"Hey Ranger, what is going on now?" "We have the Plums so tell your girl not to worry." Ranger told him then hung up.

"Little one, Rangeman has your family and they are safe." Tank told her while he was pulling up to his farm.

Pierre pushed a button and the gate opened. It was then that she saw all the land and the animals on it.

"Wow this is your place." She stated with an open mouth.

"yup" He replied.

They parked in a driveway, that led to a two-story ranch home.

How many rooms are there here?" her curiosity getting the best of her now.

"Four bedrooms and two bathrooms."

"The porch goes all away around the ranch." He pointed to the porch. "The master bedroom has a walk out to the porch too. I can show you that first if you like?" He asked her.

"Sure" She said and smiled a little.

He put the key in and a full-blooded German Shepard came up to Pierre and he petted him. He then walked up to Stephanie and let her pet him also. "

This is Rufus he is a sweet heart. He was my wife's, but I kept him anyway. Just could not part with him."

Rufus decided there was nothing interesting about Stephanie and walked away. Stephanie started to walk away. She turned to the left and saw a huge living room with a flat screen T.V. over a fire place. A sofa about twenty feet away from that. In the middle was a coffee table.

She then turned and saw a medium sized bathroom with a sink, and a very large shower with a normal sized toilet and a closet to the right of the shower.

She then turned left and walked down a hall way and saw a dining room with a huge table, the table have 3 chairs on each side and a chair on each end of the table. There was a door that led to part of the wrap around porch.

She walked from the dining room and bumped into Pierre standing in the door way that led to the kitchen. "Like it so far" he said with a huge smile on his face. "Yeah" was all she could get out.

He took her hand and led her through the kitchen. She saw a double sink, an island in the middle of the room with some stools. A dishwasher to the right of the sink. A large marble counter top. At the end of the countertop was the large fridge.

"This way" Her led her to the main door again and then up the spiral staircase that lead to the upstairs.

They got to the first door on the right. "That is my office, where I keep some of my cold cases from when I was a detective. On this side is another bedroom which adjoins to another bedroom. Which is the master bedroom by the way. I have a gym in the basement an attic that I never use. So, come this way and I will show you the inside of my bedroom."

He opened the door for her and she stepped in. Her heart was jumping beats. She looked and saw to her left a large fire place that was opposite a king-sized bed. To the right of the bed was a dresser. To the left was a walk-in closet. After that were doors that led to the out-side porch.

She opened the double glass doors and went out. She could see the horses getting their evening feed. She looked farther out she could see the cows grazing, and the chickens also eating their food. "Oh my god, Pierre this place is breath taking. Just look at that sun set."

"I thought you would like it." He slid his strong arms around her waist. She turned to face him. They kissed a long passioned kiss. He walked her back to the bed.

She laid down on it. He was on top of her in an instant. He started to kiss her fiercely. She put her arms around his neck. He got his hands under her shirt and pulled it off. He started to let his tongue down her neck. He started to pull off her bra. "I want you so badly Stephanie?" He whispered to her.

"I want you too, I want to get rid of these past two days, please Pierre help me do that." She told him. She had his shirt of in two minutes.

He undid her bra and started to suck on her breasts. "Oh god" she moaned. He got her pants and her thong off. He stood up and looked at her. She moved to the edge of the bed. Got his cargo pants unbuttoned. Pierre took off his boots and his pants fell to the floor. She laid back down.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her very gently.

"Yes" she put her hands around his waist and lowered them until they were rubbing his butt.

"Okay" He was instantly inside of her. They had a perfect rhythm of motion going. She was rubbing her hands up and down his back. He was rubbing his hands all over her legs. He exited her in what seemed like minutes.

"Wow" was all she said.

After they laid there together holding each other and fell asleep in each other's arm.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Love Is Where the Heart Is

Tank was up at five thirty in the morning, to get ready to go into the police department.

"Pierre, do you realize what time it is?" Stephanie asked.

'"Yeah, I do little one, but I have to head to the police department." Tank leaned close to her and kissed her softly on the lips.

He finished dressing, in his slacks, dress shoes, and his dress shirt. He walked out of the bedroom down into the kitchen where he drank a protein shake. He went into the garage got into his SUV a drove to the police station.

When he got there, he pulled into a parking spot where he could keep his personal car. He walked into the police station. He saw Eddy waiting for him

"Hello detective Sherman, let's go see the captain." Eddy started walking to the captain's office.

When they got to the elevator, he hit two. "So, you were a detective in LA" Eddy asked him

"Yes, I was, I loved every minute of it. I don't like coming back under these circumstances." Pierre told him as the opened and he walked out of the elevator.

He walked straight into the room where Vice was. He entered, and they all stared at him.

He walked to the Captain's office and knocked. "It is open" the captain shouted. "Captain, I am Pierre Sherman, I will be taking over Morelli's position." Pierre held out his hand.

"Hi, come in and have a seat, I am captain Thompson welcome, unfortunately a lot of the guys here will take some time to warm up to you." Pierre sat down in a chair directly in front of a desk, with Thompson behind the desk.

"All right here is Morelli's old badge, you will have to buy a badge case, so you can clip it onto your belt. You can also wear jeans because this is vice. Here are Morelli's files he was working on."

The captain handed over Morelli's case load, and then the file on Morelli's murder. "

Okay, I will do the best I can, I am sorry about your man"

Sherman left the office and took an empty desk in a corner. Eddy walked over to him,

"There is Morelli's old desk over across from mine."

"Yeah, but not yet, there are still guys that are mourning him. But I was looking over this file, and I might have something." He showed what he had to Eddy.

"I think we should go check it out. I am driving" Eddy grabbed the keys to the Crown Vic and took off for the south side of town.

They pulled up to a bunch of hookers, "Okay let me show you how it is done?" Eddy told Sherman.

Eddy walked over to the girls, "Hey there ladies what is going on, can we ask you a few questions?" The ladies just walked away.

"My turn" Sherman caught up with the ladies. They stopped when they saw Sherman. "Hey there Tank, what can we do for you?"

One of the ladies asked. "Well do you know what happened to Detective Morelli, and Lula?" he asked them.

"Yeah, we heard poor Lula. We do know that there was this person following her around. We tried to warn her, but she totally ignored us. As for Detective Morelli, I am thinking that there was some sort of brown SUV following us." The hookers told them while they were hanging around Tank very closely. They turned around and went back to the car.

"Well that went well." Eddy told Sherman. "What are you talking about we got a brief description of a SUV." Sherman replied.

"Yeah a brown SUV do you know how many of those there are in Trenton?" Eddy said sassy.

"Not many actually, last time I checked at Rangeman there were about one hundred and fifty of them. I want to get to Morelli's house next and look around. You will have to drive the seat won't go back far enough for me to drive. Next time we take my truck instead of this." Sherman moaned as he got in.

"How come you are moaning." Eddy asked. He looked over at Sherman and realized how cramped he looked.

"Okay this car is physically too small for you. I get why you said we will take my truck instead."

Sherman looked at Eddy with a dirty look. He also did not say a word to him the whole way there. When they got there, they saw the crime scene up.

"Okay sherlock let's see if there is anything to find here." Eddy said, he used his knife to cut the tape on the door. Suddenly Bob the retriever came out.

He did his business, then went back inside.

"Did anybody think about him." Tank hitched a finger to Bob.

"I guess not" Eddy told him Bob walked up to Tank and sat down in front of him.

"Okay Bob do you want to come home with me?" he asked the dog

There was a loud woof and he followed Tank through the house.

Tank went up to the bedroom and saw the crime scene tape again. Tank took his pocket knife out and cut the tape. He opened the door. He saw the blood on the walls. He saw the blood on the mattress that steeped through the sheets that were taken by crime scene.

He took a pocket flashlight out and started to search the carpet. He found something white and small. It was a very small cigarette butt.

"Hey Eddy, can you grab me an evidence bag, I got something." Tank yelled.

Eddy came up with a pair of gloves, tweezers, and opened the bag. Sherman took tweezers and used them to pick up the very small cigarette butt.

"Is that what I think it is?" Eddy asked eyes wide.

"Yup a cigarette butt, and Morelli I believe did not smoke, so if it not his, then who's is it?" Sherman said out loud.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Love is Where the Heart is

They arrived back at the station just in time to see the captain putting on his coat. "Captain, we have something, or Detective Pierre has found something" Eddy yelled out. All the other detectives turned to see Detective Sherman go into the Captain's office and pull up a chair.

The captain walked back in with Eddy and shut the door.

"I was almost out the door." He told them.

"I found this at Morelli's house." Pierre held up the cigarette butt.

"Morelli did not smoke so who does the butt belong to." The captain took the evidence bag and held it for a few minutes.

"Get it to the lab." He told them.

"Boss, I can get it done by the best lab in the world it would be done at Rangeman" Pierre told him.

"You can get into Rangeman, I don't believe it" The captain laughed opened the door to the office. "The newbie thinks he can get into Rangeman" The whole room laughed until the secretary came.

"Detective Sherman, Mr. Manoso is here to see you." She said with an opened mouth.

Everybody's mouth dropped as the one and only "Ranger" Carlos Manoso came in.

"Hey Detective Sherman, can I ask a favor?" Manoso asked

"Depends on if I can get a favor back?" Sherman asked him.

Ranger looked at him, "What's the favor?"

"I want this analyzed by Rangeman?" Sherman took the evidence bag and waived it in front of Manoso's face.

"Where did you find it" Manoso asked him.

"In Morelli's house, and we both know that he did not smoke." Sherman looked at him.

"Okay we will analyze it, but now for my question?" Ranger asked.

"Can You please leave this place and come back to work at Rangeman. We need you, and you are part owner of Rangeman anyway." Manoso asked with a cool smile on his face.

"I will think about it Ranger. I am not saying yes, but not no either. I need time to think it over and talk it over with Stephanie." Sherman looked at his partner and they shook hands.

Manoso took the evidence bag walked out of the office and went back to Rangeman.

"Wait you worked at Rangeman!" The captain asked him.

"Worked at it I am part owner at Rangeman, they call me Tank there." He told them. Now if excuse me I am off for the rest of day. Going back to my place to spend it with Stephanie." Sherman walked out of the office with a huge smile on his face.

"He is dating my cousin Stephanie Plum" Eddy said then walked out after Sherman.

The captain walked back into his office and brought out Sherman's personal file.

He read out loud about property and stocks owned.

"Has a four room Ranch house in farm country of Trenton. Co- Owner of Rangeman Security Company. Worked at Rangeman in Los Angeles office, and transferred her six years ago. Had a wife who died in car crash in LA." All the other detective starred at the Captain.

"Nice work Captain, not up to date on your detectives" The chief of police said as he entered the Vice Unit.

"In your office now!" The chief yelled at the Captain"

They walked in his office and the chief shut the door.

The captain sat down where Pierre was sitting.

The chief said down behind the captain's desk. "Captain there is a reason why I want Sherman in here.

1\. He has connections with Rangeman, so he can help us.

2\. He is an outstanding detective.

3\. He was up for the Captain's chair in his department before he left Los Angeles.

You will treat him with respect understand he works his butt off and he cares for everyone"

The chief of police left the captain's office and walked out the building.

Ranger, Tank and Eddy were waiting outside the building.

"Thanks for the heads up, the captain will be written up for not reading personal files like are required to" The chief walked out.

"Ranger, what did you do?" Tank asked him.

"Nothing I did mean it though if you wanted to come back to Rangeman off the clock and I will get this analyzed for you." Ranger got in his black SUV and left.

"Wow, that was unreal, how much trouble do you think the captain is in." Eddy asked as Sherman walked to his truck.

He opened the door and Bob jumped on him.

"Easy Bob, we are going home." Sherman told the pup.

"I think the captain will be a lot more careful as to reading personal files. Night Eddy see you tomorrow" Pierre got into his truck and drove off.

Twenty minutes later he opened the gate to his ranch. He parked the truck in the driveway, opened the door and saw Bob jump out then come back to him and sit down in front of him.

Stephanie saw him pull up and walked over to him. Bob saw her rushed up to her and jumped on her .

"Hello Bob, are you staying with us too?" She asked him.

"Woof" the big dog told her.

"Hi there Little one." He took her into his arms and gave her a deep passionate kiss.

"How was work?" she asked him.

"I know why I left being a detective and went into private security."

He told her hand and led her inside. Rufus smelled Bob, and Bob smelled Rufus and they laid down in the living room in front of the fire.

"I think they will get along fine" Stephanie said to Pierre as she looked at the two dogs.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Love Knows Where the Heart Is

"Hey little one, do you want to go for a horseback ride?" Pierre asked her.

"It has been a while since I have been, but sure I will go." She told him as she walked out of the kitchen sliding glass door then out into the fields to the stalls.

Pierre followed her holding her hand as they made their way to the stall where the horse was named Pepper she was a 15-hand appaloosa mare.

"She is very pretty, Pierre can I ride her?" Stephanie asked while she was rubbing her ear.

"Yeah, I will tack her up for you." Pierre told her.

"I can do it" Stephanie, went into the tack room, she picked up some brushes went back out to Pepper and started to brush her. She took the curry comb used it. She used the hard brush next and then the soft brush. She used the hoof pick to clean the hoofs. After she was done she brought the brushes back to the tack room.

Pierre came out with a western saddle and pad.

"I take it you know how to put this on." He asked her with a smile on his face.

"I do" She told him. She went to Pepper and put the saddle pad on her. She put the pad on her and then the saddle strapped the saddle onto the horse.

Pierre said as he was putting the bridle on her, "You have done this before."

"Yup, I use to go horseback riding most of the time when I was younger. I loved it I felt I was so free on these guys." She then led Pepper out and ready to mount up.

"Hey little one, do need help mounting?"

"nope I got it" She put her foot in the stirrup and pushed off the ground she was mounted in no time. Pierre ran up and gave her a helmet.

She took the helmet put it on, "It fits perfectly" She clicked the claps together.

"Here Mr. Sherman, Lighting is ready." The stable hand told him. Pierre got on and when he did . Stephanie took off on Pepper.

Pierre followed her on Lighting. He had a picnic basket on the back on Lighting.

She stopped trotting after a while, got off Pepper and brought her over to the shade so she could munch on grass.

Pierre stopped too, got off Lighting and did the same for him. Pierre took off the picnic basket and spread the blanket on the ground. He put the food out and they were both sitting on the blanket and started to eat some of the food that was there.

Stephanie saw all the food. There was, some juice, water, sandwiches and chips there.

"Wow Pierre there is a lot of food here?" Stephanie told him.

"Yeah, we will have some leftover, maybe I will bring some of the left overs over to the station" Pierre told her.

He pushed the food aside and took Stephanie's hands around his neck. He kissed her a passionate kiss. She put her hands under his shirt. He started to kiss her neck. She started to kiss his neck. She got his shirt off, and started to kiss his chest, when Pierre's cell phone rang.

"Pierre you should get that" Stephanie told him.

"Ok" Pierre picked up the phone and yelled, "What"

"Hey, it is Ranger, we got a match on the cigarette butt. It matches Joyce Barnhart." He dropped the phone.

Stephanie picked it up "Hello, Ranger what is going on?"

"Hey Babe, we got a match on the cigarette butt. But I can't tell you who it matches because it is a police investigation." Ranger told her. He hung up then.

When Stephanie was finished talking to Ranger. She noticed that all the food was picked up. "We better go, I have to go back to work" Pierre told him.

They got back on the horses, just as they got back on, shots rang out. Stephanie went flying on Pepper back to the stables.

"Crap" Pierre said out loud.

Stephanie was cantering down to the stables, she managed to slow down Pepper and managed to stop her. By the time Pierre caught up to her, he saw that Pepper was stopped, and Stephanie was done on the ground. She was looking Pepper over and noticed that one of her back legs was bleeding.

"I think she was hit Pierre." Stephanie told him.

He came over to Stephanie and checked her over. "Okay it is not you, so it must be her. He walked slowly up to Pepper and put a hand on her butt. He noticed that her rump was bleeding.

"Gasper he called to the stable guy. Call the vet Pepper was shot."

Pierre got on the phone called the police department, and then Rangeman.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Love Is Where the Heart Is

The Veterinarian came over a few minutes later. He saw a crowd around Pepper. He walked over to the crowd.

"Hello Pierre, what happened." The vet asked.

"Pepper was shot, please see what you can do?" He asked his usual Vet.

"Easy girl it will be all right." The vet walked around her and put a hand on her rump. He looked over the gunshot wound. "I need to take some x-rays. It is a good thing I came with my portal able x ray machine."

He turned it on, with the hand-held camera he took some pictures of Pepper's rear end. He turned on the viewing screen, "It looks like it did not hit any organs, only muscle so that is good, so now we have a choice we can leave it in there or we can put her down and try to remove it."

"Doc she was bred three weeks ago, what if she is pregnant?" Pierre looked at the vet.

"So, I think the best thing to do right now is to leave it in until we get word on if she's pregnant or not." The Vet told him. He held up a needle to give her a mild sedative to make her drowsy but not to drowsy to the point that she would not fall. He then stitched her up.

Ranger was looking at the crowd and the horse.

"Damn my stallion just bred her three weeks ago" Ranger was shaking his head as he walked up to Tank.

He put a hand on Tank's shoulder.

"Hey boss, looks like Pepper got lucky just hit some muscle." Tank told him. As they both looked at the mare while she was getting fixed up by the vet.

"Good, I don't want to have to bred her again, that was a pain in the ass" Ranger told him.

"Yeah, she did not like your stallion" Tank was shaking his head remembering that day.

He brought Pepper over to Ranger's place, let her loose in the same paddock as the stallion and the both watched as the sniffed each other. The stallion chased her and try to mount her, but she continued to run. So, Tank got her back into the trailer and called his vet, and they got the stallion's sperm and injected it up Pepper's rear and hoped for the best.

Now three weeks later both Ranger and Tank were hoping for a colt or a filly inside of Pepper.

"If you want I can see if we can get an ultrasound on Pepper and see if what we did worked?" The vet asked them

"Do that" Ranger told him. Suddenly Eddy came up. "Wow this is your place Pierre, it is awesome."

"Yeah Ranger, stay with Pepper and Stephanie, I have to go back to work to question someone" Pierre told him.

He walked up to Stephanie and give her a kiss on the lips, then walked away with Eddy to go question Joyce Barnhart.

They went to the station to get a car. They then left to pick up Joyce Barnhart who was at Vinny's Bonds.

"Hey Tank" Connie told him.

"HI Connie, we need Joyce to come with us for a while, we have some questions to ask her." Tank told her.

Joyce saw him and Eddy and tried to book it out the back door. Tank took what seemed like two huge steps and grabbed Joyce by the arm.

"Where are you going Joyce, and what is your hurry." Tank told her.

"Okay, I was with Morelli the night he got stabbed, but I did not stab him. I left him there in bed sleeping I swear" Joyce cried.

She sat down on the sofa where there was a TV. "How is Morelli anyway?" she asked.

"He did not make it, and right now you are the only one who saw him" Tank snarled at her.

"I swear that was the last time I saw him" Joyce begged, "Please you got to believe me."

"I don't believe anybody when a detective was stabbed and killed" Tank told her.

"Now we can take you to the station or you can tell us what you know here." Pierre told her.

"I saw a brown SUV there when I left his place, it was parked outside across the street. I thought about waking Joe up and telling him but I did not. I got into my car and left." Joyce told him.

"We found a cigarette butt in Joe's room was it yours?" Eddy asked her.

"Yes I had a smoke while he was in the shower, I put it under the bed so he would not see it." Joyce told Eddy.

"Okay you don't leave town, here is my extension at the police station." Tank wrote the number down and walked out.

Once they were both outside, "Do you believe her?" Eddy asked him.

"Yes there was a tone of truth in her voice, she is very upset that Morelli is gone" Tank told him as they were getting into his truck.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Love is Where the Heart is

They got back to the station, and Captain Thompson, "Sherman in my office."

Pierre went into the captain's office and sat down. The captain shut the door, "I owe you an apology for giving you a hard time yesterday."

"Now that I have said that. Eddy get in here." The captain yelled again.

"Please tell me what we have if anything?" The captain asked them.

"Well we got the DNA results back from the cigarette butt, it turns out that it is Joyce Barnhart's cigarette butt, apparently she and Morelli had something going. We went to speak to her, and she said she was there with him before he got stabbed. But she did see a Brown SUV when she was leaving, the same SUV that Lula Dowel's friends saw follow her too." Pierre finished telling the captain.

"All right, try to figure out where Barnhart was after she left Morelli's, and find out more about this Brown SUV, we find that SUV we find the killers. Get in touch with Rangeman see if they can help us with the search."

Pierre, and Eddy left the captain's office and went to Rangeman to find out if there was anything new with the SUV.

A few minutes later there were at Haywood. They parked the SUV and got out. They walked to the door, "Wow, a keycard swipe Manoso does not waste any money on security" Eddy said out loud.

"you have not seen anything yet." Pierre told him as he swiped the card.

The door opened and they entered Rangeman.

Eddy was looking forward to this, seeing the inside of Rangeman. They walked about ten feet and Tank turned right into the command room. There were computer terminals in front of him. Eddy noticed that there were about three terminals that were in use. Lester turned to see Tank and Eddy there.

"Hey Boss, we don't have much information about what happened at your place. We do have some information on the brown SUVS. There are 75 registered in the Trenton area and 50 unregistered in the Trenton area." Lester handed the information to Tank.

"Great thanks," he looked around and found his partner gone.

"Great Eddy is on the loose in Rangeman, Ranger will have my head, find him now." Sherman yelled.

"We found him, he is in the gym" Lester told him.

Pierre walked down the stairs to the gym. He saw Eddy punching on bag.

"Hey, you are not bad." Pierre told him.

Eddy turned to him. "This gym is amazing no wonder why you are in such great shape." He looked at Sherman

"I will tell you what, I will help you pass your next work physical if you promise to help me solve this case." Sherman asked Eddy.

"It is a deal, now let's get to work." Eddy and Sherman left Rangeman to go back to the office to find out more about these brown SUV's.

They drove down to the station and saw all of the cops and prisoners on the street.

"Hey what is going on?" Pierre walked up to the captain.

"We had a bomb threat that is what happened." Thompson told him.

"Nobody is cleared to go back in until it is cleared." Thompson told him.

Sherman looked around at the screen he saw a couple of prisoners acting a little funny. "Boss, I think something more is going down." Sherman told the captain.

Just then someone in a brown SUV came up opened the door. Sherman rushed to the SUV "Hold it don't move"

The SUV sped off, leaving these two guys starting to run for it.

"Damn I hate runners." Sherman started to run after them. Eddy looked around, "Hey Sherman is running after two guys." Eddy took off to. Eddy clobbered the tall skinny guy that was running. But the other guy got into an empty cruiser and took off.

The Captain ran up to Sherman, "What the hell!"

"It was a set up captain, someone wanted him and the other guy free." Sherman said to him.

"We got one, so with being said, maybe we can use this." Sherman said to the captain. Eddy walked up with the tall and skinny guy,

"Maybe he will tell us something." Eddy told them.


End file.
